Tumby Bay, SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Tumby Bay is a coastal town on the eastern Eyre Peninsula of South Australia, on a sheltered bay of Spencer Gulf about 45 kilometres north of Port Lincoln. The Barngarla people are acknowledged as the traditional custodians of the area, and the Nauo people also hold a deep connection to this coast. Matthew Flinders named the bay in 1802 after a parish in Lincolnshire, England; for a time it was called Harvey's Bay, but the name Tumby Bay returned when the town was proclaimed in 1900. Settlers arrived from the 1840s and a jetty was built in 1874. Farming, fishing and tourism support the town today, which is loved for its white sandy beaches and as a gateway to the offshore islands of the Sir Joseph Banks Group.
Less advantaged than the national average
Tumby Bay is more socio-economically advantaged than about 27% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 945, where about 1000 is the national average).
A socio-economic measure from ABS Census data — not a measure of how good a suburb is to live in or visit. How we calculate this.
Is Tumby Bay a good place to live?
There’s no single answer — it depends on what matters to you. So instead of one mystery number, we break it down: a transparent score on each part of life we can back with public data, and an honest “not yet” on the parts we can’t.
Below the national middle on the data we score
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Tumby Bay from public data. It sits alongside — and reconciles with — the socio-economic Suburb Score above; it is a transparent read, not a complete verdict.
Socio-economic advantage
27/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (27/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
71/100More affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $220 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 71% of suburbs we can compare. Housing data only, no valuations. · ABS Census 2021
Not yet scored
We’d rather leave these open than publish a number we can’t stand behind. Here’s where each one stands.
- Amenities & accessNot scored yet — our OpenStreetMap amenity mapping is still rolling out across suburbs.
- Green spaceNot scored yet — our OpenStreetMap green-space mapping is still rolling out across suburbs.
- TransportNot scored yet — our OpenStreetMap public-transport mapping is still rolling out across suburbs.
- SchoolsNot scored yet — school performance (ACARA / ICSEA) needs a data-reuse licence cleared before we can publish it.
- SafetyNot scored yet — Australia has no single open crime dataset and safety data carries defamation and legal care, so it is gated pending a go/no-go and will be data-only when added.
- CommunityNot scored yet — we won't reduce community to a number from a proxy. We'd rather leave it open than publish an invented value judgement.
A transparent read on public data, not a verdict — and not a measure of any person or community. See our methodology for how each component is worked out and why some aren’t scored yet.
Tumby Bay at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 1,781
- Median age
- 57
- Median weekly household income
- $1,058
- SEIFA score
- 945
- Local government area
- Tumby Bay
- Coordinates
- -34.4005, 136.0706
Map of Tumby Bay
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Tumby Bay
What it costs to live in Tumby Bay and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $220
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,200
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 73%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 22%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Tumby Bay demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Tumby Bay demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Tumby Bay using the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census; every percentage is a share of a clearly stated Census count, so each one traces back to the source. At a glance, the largest age group is seniors (65+) at 39% and 7% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 254 | 14% |
| Youth (15–24) | 119 | 7% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 281 | 16% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 443 | 25% |
| Seniors (65+) | 689 | 39% |
Share of the 1,786 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 406 | 51% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 178 | 22% |
| Rented | 176 | 22% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 675 | 84% |
| Townhouses & semis | 58 | 7% |
| Flats & apartments | 49 | 6% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 804 occupied private dwellings in Tumby Bay.
- Average household size
- 2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,463
- Median weekly personal income
- $624
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 111 (7%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 20 (1%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 31 (2%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 524 (35%)
- Labour-force participation
- 47.5%
- Unemployment rate
- 2.8%
- Employed full-time
- 355
- Employed part-time
- 304
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021 (General Community Profile, by Suburb and Locality). © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. How we group bands and derive each share is set out on our methodology page.
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Common questions about Tumby Bay
Is Tumby Bay a good place to live?
There's no single answer, so we score what the public data can back. On socio-economic advantage and housing affordability, Tumby Bay rates 42/100 overall (Below the national middle on the data we score). Public transport, schools and safety aren't scored yet — see our methodology for why.
What is the median rent in Tumby Bay?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Tumby Bay was $220, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,200. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Tumby Bay?
Tumby Bay is a suburb of South Australia, Australia, in the Tumby Bay local government area.
What is the population of Tumby Bay?
At the 2021 Census, Tumby Bay had a population of about 1,781.
Is Tumby Bay an advantaged area?
Tumby Bay has an ABS SEIFA score of 945, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 27 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 27% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in South Australia
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